1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus, an inkjet recording apparatus and a liquid removal method, and more particularly, to liquid removal technology which efficiently removes surplus liquid on a liquid receiving medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, inkjet recording apparatuses have come to be used widely as data output apparatuses for outputting images, documents, or the like. An inkjet recording apparatus forms an image, document, or the like, corresponding to data, on a recording medium by ejecting ink from nozzles, by driving actuators corresponding to nozzles provided in a print head, in accordance with data.
In an inkjet recording apparatus, since a liquid ink is used in which coloring material and additives are included in a solvent, such as water or alcohol, then the ink (ink solvent) remains on the medium after image formation. When the ink solvent remaining on the medium makes contact with another medium, it may give rise to soiling of the recorded image. Furthermore, the ink solvent remaining on the medium may be a cause of cockling of the medium. In an inkjet recording apparatus, a heater, an absorbing member for absorbing the liquid, and the like, are provided on the downstream side of the head, in such a manner that the ink solvent remaining on the medium after image formation is removed swiftly.
On the other hand, another inkjet recording apparatus uses a method which promotes the fixing of the ink onto the medium by making the treatment liquid react with the ink on the medium. In this method also, if there is treatment liquid present on a region where the ink is not present, then this treatment liquid may remain on the medium after image formation, and hence it is necessary to swiftly remove the treatment liquid remaining on the medium, as well.
In the ink absorbing body and the image forming apparatus and method using an ink absorbing body described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-179959, an ink absorbing body is provided, which comprises a liquid solvent absorbing body and a separating member that covers the surface of the liquid solvent absorbing body at least partially and allows the ink solvent to pass, while having separating properties with respect to the coloring material of the ink. When ink is deposited on a sheet, the liquid solvent absorbing body is placed in proximity to a portion of the sheet, through the separating member, and liquid solvent is absorbed into the liquid solvent absorbing body, through the separating member, in such a manner that the coloring material and the liquid solvent of the liquid ink on the sheet are separated from each other.
Furthermore, in the transfer type inkjet printer described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-126945, ions of the same polarity as colored charged particles in the ink are irradiated onto an ink image formed on a transfer drum, by means of a corotron charger, thereby separating the colored particles from the oil-based solvent, whereupon the oil-based solvent is removed by means of a solvent removal device which uses a polytetrafluoroethylene mesh.
When the solvent remaining on the medium is removed by applying heat to the medium by means of a heater, it is difficult to remove solvent from a specific region of the medium, and it is also difficult to control the amount of heat applied to the medium from the heater, in accordance with the volume of the remaining solvent. On the other hand, if the solvent remaining on the medium is absorbed by using an absorbing body, then it is necessary to provide maintenance members, such as a member which removes the coloring material (solute) of the ink adhering to the surface of the absorbing body, and a member which removes the solvent remaining on the absorbing body.
In the ink absorbing body and the image forming apparatus and the method using the ink absorbing body as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-179959, and the transfer type inkjet printer as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-126945, a composition is adopted in which the medium makes contact with the ink absorbing body even when removal of the ink solvent is not required, and hence there is a probability that soiling on the ink absorbing body adheres to the medium, thereby degrading the image formed on the medium. Furthermore, there is also a probability that the ink absorbing body may deform if the ink absorbing body makes contact with the medium for a prolonged period of time, and hence there are concerns regarding decline in the ink solvent removal capability.